Found
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Spoilers for The Magician's Code. It was in Robin's destiny to marry Barney. But another part of her destiny was to keep a promise that she'd made Ted at the very beginning - "I'm going to help you find her." My idea for how exactly he meets the mother.


**This has been how I've wanted Ted to meet the mother ever since Big Days aired. So here's my go at it before it is proven horribly wrong. The only spoilers are the bride reveal from The Magician's Code. This time the plot bunny wouldn't go away.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters and am not making any sort of monetary gain from this or any other fic.**

"Hey Ted!" Robin came up to him and smiled. "Hanging in there?"

"It certainly has been quite a day," he said, acknowledging the obvious. He smiled. "But everyone made it! Where's Barney?"

"Getting people to tell stories about how their lives were affected by how awesome he is," Robin said, glancing over her shoulder.

"You lucky lady," Ted said, holding up his drink and smiling.

"Well, _my_ life certainly was affected by him," Robin said. "All of ours were."

"Very true," Ted said, taking a drink and sighing. "All of our lives were affected by each and every one of us. And here you guys are. Married. There Marshall and Lily are. Married. Little Marvin W. the life of the party over there. You know, it was Marshall and Lily's engagement, all those years ago that sent me on the journey to find my true love."

Robin smiled. "Yeah, I remember."

"And then, almost a decade later, they've got it all figured out, you have it all figured out…you have it all figured out with the guy I didn't think anybody could ever figure out, and here I am, the one that wanted it, marriage, that is, more than either of you, and you two go ahead and pair off and I'm still…" he sighed again, "alone. Still alone."

"She's out there, Ted," Robin said. "She is. And the only reason that the girl who swore off marriage and the guy who swore off any sort of relationship are married now is because we were meant to be together. It was fate, it was destiny; it was all of those things that you used to believe so passionately in!" Robin cocked her head. "Don't give up. If we, Barney and I, can find _this_, after all that stuff you know we went through to get here, well, forgive me for sounding a tad narcissistic here, but it's my wedding day, dammit, and you're going to listen …" – Ted smiled at that – "…that should inspire you! You're not a failure, you're just going to have that perfect of a life once you do find it. Don't let this be where you roll over in defeat. Let this be your second wind. Maybe it'll happen today, maybe it'll happen in another eight years, but you will find her, Ted. Mrs. Mosby. She's out there, and she's looking for you. Maybe she's not expecting you, and maybe she's searching even harder for you than you are for her, but I promise you every guy she's ever dated she hasn't ended up with because he wasn't you."

Ted smiled. "You know, when I met you, the only words that were running through my brain were '_there she is_.' And every time I look at you, even now…" he shook his head. "I still get that feeling. But not in the same way I did eight years ago." He looked hard at her face. "I don't think about destiny or fate too much anymore. But whenever I do, I still feel like I was supposed to meet you. I feel like…" he shook his head. "I feel like there's more to your destiny than marrying Barney Stinson, and I can't shake the feeling that another part of it includes me. Not, not in a romantic sense. Just...just in some other sense."

"Well," Robin said, "we learned a lot when we dated each other. About relationships. About compromise, about what we wanted in life. Thank you," she added as a middle aged woman passed by and complimented her dress, reminding both of them that this wasn't one of their rooftop or living room talks and that they were in fact at Robin's wedding, "and although we weren't meant to be, Ted, without what I learned from you, I don't know if I would have been able to make it work with Barney. You're the reason that this ended up working, and you have to know that I know it and you have to know how grateful I am. I might have married somewhere down the road, but I know I wouldn't be as happy as I am now." She glanced over her shoulder, past where a group of women were talking, and over to Barney. "No one is born completely compatible with someone else. People's lives shape them, and if you had enough in common with someone in the first place, they can easily become your soulmate. You helped to shape me."

"You would have been shaped by any guy you dated," Ted said. "I just happened to be the one that you did."

"No," Robin said. "I really don't think I would have. There's something about you, Ted, and everyone who comes into contact with you knows it. I know in my heart that I needed you, not as a husband, but as an experience, as an ex, and as a friend. I needed to get from point A to point B, and you were a major part-" she saluted "Major Part" in unison with him "-of that happening. You helped make me the woman who Barney could end up with, kinda like Nora and Quinn helped him get to a point where we could work better than we did back at our first go." She smiled. "Though we all kinda like you better than Nora or Quinn."

Ted smiled. "Well, Scherbatsky – Stinson," he said, smiling at the new name, "if I was so essential to you and Barney finding each other, then does that mean you're going to be essential to me finding the one?"

"Maybe!" Robin said. "Maybe that's the rest of my destiny. I did promise you I was going to help you, after all. Remember?"

"I do," Ted said. "When Barney introduced you to me – ironic, now that I think about it – and when you said we couldn't work because of our differing wants in life, you told me you'd help me find Mrs. Mosby." He smiled. "Okay then. Where is she?"

Robin cocked her head and smiled. And she turned around and tapped a brunette on the shoulder. The woman turned around and smiled at them as Robin gestured toward her best man. "Hi, have you met Ted?"

**I know how the show loves to go back to older gags and is pretty good with continuity, and as Barney introduced Ted to Robin via "Have you met Ted?" and then he ended up marrying her, I'd really love for, at the wedding, Robin, the initial mother candidate who told Ted "I'm gonna help you find her" to introduce him to the final mother candidate the same way she was introduced to him in the Pilot.**


End file.
